Rifts provide a unique window into the geodynamic system of our planet and the processes that shape the surface of the Earth. The CRYSTALS project aims at a thorough understanding of continental rift dynamics and rifted margin formation by means of a comprehensive multi-scale numerical modelling design.

News and Highlights

May 2019:

New paper in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: "Formation of the Iberian-European Convergent Plate Boundary Fault and Its Effect on Intraplate Deformation in Central Europe". Click here to download.

Paper published in Nature Communications: "Aborted propagation of the Ethiopian rift caused by linkage with the Kenyan rift." Click here to download.

We welcome postdoc Dan Sandiford from the University of Tasmania, Australia. Dan will stay with us until October 2019 in the framework of the Gateways project focussing on the impact of continental breakup on ocean circulation.

February 2019:

Paper published in GRL: "Breakup without borders: how continents speed up and slow down during rifting." Click here to for more info and downloads.

Paper published in Global and Planetary Change: "Rift and plate boundary evolution across two supercontinent cycles." Click here to download.

We welcome Master student Frederic Gehrke who will work with us on the interaction of tectonics with mantle convection using the geodynamic software ASPECT.

Paper published in Tectonophysics: "Crustal stretching style variations in the northern margin of the South China Sea." Click here to download.

Paper published in EPSL: "Sedimentary loading–unloading cycles and faulting in intermontane basins: Insights from numerical modeling and field observations in the NW Argentine Andes". Click here to download.

We welcome Prof Ameha Muluneh from Addis Ababa University. Ameha gained a TWAS-DFG fellowship with which he will visit us from January to April 2019. He will work on "Rheology of Continental Rifting: A Multi-observational approach integrating geophysical, geological and geodynamic techniques" with a special focus on the Ethiopian Rift.